


more important than you and me

by Vennat



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Best Boy Ricky Bowen, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Sad Ricky Bowen, Soft Ricky Bowen, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Ricky Bowen, dont be ricky be smart when you bind, no slash this is all friendship, this fandom sorely needs some fic so i guess its my job to write it, unsafe binding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-08 03:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21469546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vennat/pseuds/Vennat
Summary: Nini and Ricky... aren't friends. She's still mad at him, especially for the stunt he pulled, getting the role of Troy.But Nini also dated Ricky for a year, and she was friends with him for longer.And, really, her feelings don't come into it when her friend needs help.
Relationships: Ricky Bowen & Nini Salazar-Roberts
Comments: 18
Kudos: 268





	more important than you and me

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't gonna write fic for this fandom because I have so much other stuff to write rn. like it's not even funny. but, I went to look in the hsmtmts tag a couple of days ago and 2/4 of it are porn????? so uh, guess I'm gonna be supplying the friendship and angst here, huh? 
> 
> also, no I don't think Ricky is trans in canon (because disney is a COWARD), but as a trans man, Ricky is literally what I want to look like when I transition so??? projecting onto characters time, I guess.

Nini has known Ricky for years. 

But Nini has only known that Ricky was trans for a year. He had told her quietly, fearfully, a week after she had agreed to go out with him, afraid of her disgust and rejection. He had seemed so surprised when she had just accepted it and moved on, and the surprise and awe on his face had made something burn in her gut, something angry. How many people before her had rejected him, treated him like something lesser when he had trusted them with something so important to him? The thought made her sick. She had vowed to herself, then, to do anything in her power to help him when other people wouldn’t. No matter what.

It seemed, now, that that day had come. She knew E.J. was unhappy with her paying any attention at all to Ricky, but their shared past patterned her actions. She was so used to always searching him out in a room, always waiting for him and talking to him and just  _ him,  _ she couldn’t just  _ stop.  _ It annoyed her, that she couldn’t seem to give him up. 

But  _ just this once,  _ she was grateful for it. 

She caught sight of Ricky as she entered the practice room. He was moving through the steps to the bows, the same as she had caught a glimpse of in the library. She was equal parts satisfied and frustrated with it. Glad that he was putting in the effort, but frustrated to know that he would be staying in the musical and continuing to complicate things.

But then, she saw his face. It was flushed, which wasn’t surprising considering he was wearing a hoodie and then a jacket on top of it, but it was the  _ particular  _ flush across his cheeks that gave her pause. The light pink on his cheeks danced up right under his cheekbones, and the tips of his ears were flushed red, too. He was gasping for breath, too. Short, panting gasps, as if he couldn’t get enough air in, and--

As if he couldn’t get enough air in. Damn, that stupid boy. She hoped one day she would understand why teenage boys were all idiots, but so far, no luck. Nini bit her lip, tossing a quick glance over her shoulder to where E.J. had roped his cousin into helping him run lines. If she was fast, he wouldn’t even notice she was gone before she was back.

Nini walked around the clumps of people paired off doing lines, all waiting for Miss Jenn to arrive and start today’s rehearsal, and stepped up to Carlos, who was supervising a mini-rehearsal of the bows for anyone who had wanted to join in. 

“Mind if I borrow Ricky for just a sec?” She asked the boy, who looked at her with surprise. 

“Rehearsal doesn’t start for another 15 minutes anyways,” Carlos shrugged, and Nini accepted that as a yes. 

“Thanks,” she said shortly, before darting between the dancing student to grab onto Ricky’s arm. 

“What--?” he started to ask breathlessly, but Nini ignored him, and continued to drag him from the room. He went along easily, much easier than he ever had before, and once again she cursed the brainlessness of the teenaged male population. 

Once they were in the hall, Nini pushed Ricky into a stray chair a few feet own from the door, then checked around them. The hall was deserted. She turned an accusing gaze on a still-breathless Ricky.

“How long have you had your binder on?” She asked lowly, not wanting to risk anyone else overhearing.

Ricky dropped his eyes from her gaze, studying his shoes. He mumbled something unintelligible. She tapped her foot impatiently.

“What?”

“... 12 hours,” he mumbled again, only barely understandable. Nini felt her eyes widen. 

“Jesus, Ricky, you know you can’t do that! That’s too long, beside the fact that you’re dancing with it on,  _ and  _ you probably skateboarded to school with it on--”

“I know, ok? I know, just lay off.” He exploded, looking up at her for only a moment, before burying his face in his hands. “It’s just-- Troy is like, the epitome of manliness, and Miss Jenn gave  _ me  _ the role, and I know you don’t like it, but… I  _ want  _ everyone to look at me, and see a manly kinda guy. I can’t… I won’t be able to take it if someone thinks I can’t do the role, because I’m too  _ girly,  _ or whatever--”

“Ok, shut up.” Nini cuts him off, before dropping to crouch in front of Ricky so that he’ll look her in the eyes. “You can’t be  _ too girly  _ or whatever, because you’re not a girl. You’re a guy-- just like E.J., or Carlos, or even Zac Efron. But despite that, you  _ cannot  _ wear your binder like that during practice, Ricky, you’ll hurt yourself. It’s really dangerous, and you know it.” 

Nini reached up, pulling Ricky’s hands away from his face and holding them in her own. 

“Now you listen to me, ok? I may be mad at you right now, and we may be on shaky ground, but for something like this? I don’t care. You can still come to me, Ricky, we can still be friends. I  _ want  _ to still be friends. And I  _ don’t  _ want you to hurt yourself for something as trivial as a school musical, ok?”

Once he nodded, Nini graced him with a smile. She stood, tugging at his hands so that he would too. She squeezed them, and he squeezed back before she let go.

“Ok,” she said, “so here’s what we’re gonna do. I’ve got a sports bra in my backpack that you can borrow for today, and between that and your hoodie, you’ll be ok. Yeah?” She double-checked, and Ricky nodded. 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Thank you, Nini.” 

Nini smiled at him. 

“Of course, Ricky.” she looped her arm inside his. “Let’s go get that, then we can practice our bows together, ok?”

“Ok,” he agreed, smiling back at her. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have another idea in the works kinda for hsmtmts but idk if I'll have time to write it. we'll see. 
> 
> send me hsmtmts prompts on twitter @vennatfinn OR on Tumblr @v-ennat. I'm on twit hella more. follow me for hsmtmts and awae tweets lol.
> 
> kudos and comments please I always reply (; thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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